Not yet.

Our paperwork was missing once piece (a very important piece). The recommendation letter from the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs did not get put in with our court documents. Not great news, but not terrible news. The director of our agency said that our case should be tried Friday (tomorrow!!!) or Monday and she feels like we will pass. We bought our airline tickets and reserved our guest house. We are bound and determined to bring Sweetie-Pie home! We plan to travel August 30th through September 7th.

The Ways We Wait...

In two days we find out if we are legally Agnoti's parents; we wait with frantic anticipation.
Potential flight plans are in the works; we wait to spend $5,000.
Three boys are craving a sister; they wait for mid-September.
Primer in Agnoti's bedroom is drying; we wait to paint the final coats of Cranberry Coctail with Glitter Sparkles.
Guest-house reservations are pending; we wait for an embassy date.
Our arms feel empty; we wait to fill them with the most amazing one-year-old girl.
A little girl sits in an orphanage half-a-world away; does she know what's waiting for her?

Gifts for Agnoti

A mom traveling to Ethiopia generously offered to bring Agnoti a Ziploc baggie with gifts in it. It's hard to decide what to send a one-year-old. Clark, Liam, Simon and I went to the mall last night and found an adorable little zebra. Of course they voted for a boy zebra! I couldn't have that, so today pulled off the boy collar and attached a black and pink collar. Walla, it's a girl! :) Margaux (our dog) was sure that zebra was hers, so Agnotie should find essence of dog slobber on her new gift's tail. My friend Jen has introduced me to the world of scrap-booking, which I did a little on the pic's we sent. I also had the pictures laminated, as the first place an infant puts anything is her mouth. These should hold up for awhile...

Little One

In the past couple of weeks we've found out that our daughter is struggling a bit. She has been termed "failure to thrive" along with three others in the orphanage (of about 70 children). As a children's counselor, I've seen failure-to-thrive with children in problematic environments losing the desire to nourish themselves and participate in their surroundings--shutting down physically and emotionally. While the orphanage Agnoti is in takes beautiful care of the children, it is known that some kiddos lose ground without consistent individual care.

It could be that Agnoti is having difficulty in the orphanage setting, or her formula is not agreeing with her, that she is grieving, or maybe she has been sick... Regardless, we are worried. Clark and I, with another family, sent a box of formula specialized for underweight babies to the orphanage. The formula arrived on July 18th and we are hoping this helps. We will have new pictures of her within a week or so and we can't wait for that physical reassurance!

The picture in this post is of Agnoti's tiny hands and feet. Currently, the term Little One very accurately portrays our daughter.

Baby Girl, Baby Doll

I found this wonderful, snuggly blankie/doll at WOKiTS and couldn't pass it up. Agnoti's will be orange. Our baby girl has her first baby doll!!!!!

Agnoti!!!

We have a little girl! Her name is Agnoti. She is approximately one year old. She's amazing!!! I can not post pictures of her until we pass our court date. Our date is July 31st and we are hoping against all hopes that we pass, as, if we do, we can pick Agnoti up at the end of August.
The information we have on her is as follows: She is one and used to have a full head of hair (we've seen pictures and it was bouffant!). She weighs 14.8 pounds and is 27 inches (about the 3rd percentile). She can bear weight on her legs. She is beautiful. She has huge eyes and amazingly-long eyelashes. Her mouth is heart-shaped. She is malnourished, but we'll change that!
To say that we are thrilled, elated, over-the-moon, ecstatic, bursting with joy and possibility is an understatement!!!!!!

From Ho Chi Minh to Addis Ababa in One Day!

Our approval from the US to adopt landed in its destination yesterday, or so the very kind woman with the National Visa Center told us this evening. This was our last paperwork'ish thing to worry about (we hope!). We've been working on this for weeks! When we filed initially it was sent to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; with our switch to Ethiopia we needed that approval to follow suit. It did--to Addis Ababa in one day. Cause for celebration!!!

Mom, I read your comment on yesterday's post. I have not thought about those pins in months. Funny how that works out! xoxo, Crystal